Chapter 12 - The Doctor Who Never Examined Her
Dr. Malcolm Reed had never treated Emily.
Yet investigators found a thirty-page psychiatric evaluation bearing her name.
The report described paranoia.
Emotional volatility.
Pregnancy-related delusions.
Risk to herself.
Risk to her unborn child.
It recommended immediate temporary guardianship.
The signature line was dated three days before Vanessa kicked Emily.
Emily read two pages and closed the report.
“He diagnosed me before the incident.”
Detective Ortiz nodded.
“He appears to have been preparing the paperwork in advance.”
Raymond’s anger became almost frighteningly quiet.
“Where is Reed?”
“Missing.”
His clinic had closed that morning.
His phone was off.
His apartment was empty.
His bank account showed a transfer of four hundred thousand dollars from a Whitmore shell company.
Emily looked toward Samuel’s incubator.
Everything was always money.
Her marriage.
Her pregnancy.
Her sanity.
Even her child’s future.
Martin Bell entered.
“The board meeting is tomorrow at nine.”
Raymond nodded.
“We postpone.”
Emily turned.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
Raymond frowned.
“You just had emergency surgery.”
“And they built all of this around preventing me from voting.”
“That does not mean you have to prove anything.”
“I’m not proving anything.”
Emily looked at Martin.
“Can I vote remotely?”
“Yes.”
“Then the meeting happens.”
Raymond understood.
“You want them to think the plan failed completely.”
“I want Charles to watch it fail.”
The next morning, Emily wore a simple navy cardigan over her hospital gown.
At 8:58, a secure video connection opened.
Twenty-two board members appeared on the screen.
At the far end of the conference room sat Charles Whitmore.
His attorneys had advised him not to attend.
He came anyway.
Perhaps arrogance was stronger than fear.
The chairman called the meeting to order.
Charles immediately objected.
“Emily Whitmore is medically compromised.”
Emily almost smiled.
“Saint Claire.”
Charles stopped.
“My legal name remains Emily Saint Claire Whitmore.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“And I am medically competent.”
Charles pushed a document forward.
“We have a physician’s report indicating otherwise.”
Raymond stood in the conference room.
“Dr. Malcolm Reed?”
Charles’s expression changed.
Raymond continued.
“The physician who never examined Emily?”
Silence.
“The physician currently under investigation for fraudulent medical documentation?”
Charles looked toward his attorney.
Too late.
Emily raised her hand.
“I move that the board admit into the record evidence of attempted coercion against a controlling shareholder.”
The motion received a second.
Then another.
Charles stood.
“This meeting is compromised.”
Emily’s face remained calm.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Your plan is.”
Then Martin Bell entered the room carrying Catherine’s red binder.
May you like
Charles saw it.
And for the first time, the man who had orchestrated eleven years of Emily’s life looked genuinely terrified.
